Haller

Haller is a ruined stone tower on the Rahmenberg hillside in Germany, facing the main castle across the valley. Thick walls of local rock rise above a steep slope, with gaps showing where floors, beams and a roof once fitted. A narrow path winds uphill between trees and rocks, opening onto views of rooftops, the valley and the opposite fortification.

The tower probably began as a thirteenth-century tower house, older than the nearby castle and separate from it. During the castle siege by Charles the Fifth’s troops in 1534, the structure still carried a roof. Builders removed stone from it in 1570 and 1571, using the material for castle repairs. From the later seventeenth century, the ruin served as a powder magazine and guardhouse, briefly gaining another temporary roof. The eighteenth century brought the loss of that roof and its former purpose.

In 1971, Christo wrapped the tower together with the castle for an environmental art project. The exterior remains freely accessible, while the open masonry preserves the exact marks of vanished floors and beams.